Those Accused
by Silent Stalemate
Summary: They were mercilessly accused of something they didn't do. Itachi accepted his punishment while Shiori was sentenced life in prison. Once she escapes to kill Itachi, she's helplessly drawn into the Akatsuki's void of false promises and hopes.
1. Chapter 1

This is a re-write of the original _Those Accused_ that I author. I decided that if I start back at the beginning and polish some points in the story, it will make the writing process for eventual chapters much, much more painless. For those who previously read Those Accused, the differences will probably become apparent fairly soon. I hope.

Please submit reviews!

"I'm holding on so tightly now

My insides scream so loud

They keep watching, watching me drown.

How did it come to this?"

~"Sell Your Soul" by Hollywood Undead~

**PROLOGUE**

Miserable obsidian eyes stared at the gray wall across from her. She could hear the beautiful sound of the rain outside her secluded cell, and she hopelessly wished that – for just one second – she could feel the mystically crafted drops showering her skin. With a resigned sigh she slowly shut her eyes- shut her eyes, and prayed that someday she would be free of her concrete hell.

_Five years ago_…

"_Setunai, Shiori," the Sandaime Hokage stared at the black document clutched in his wrinkled grasp, barely managing to conceal the sorrow and doubt flickering within his eyes, "you are hereby sentenced to life in the Konohagakure Maximum Security Prison."_

"_No!" she screamed. "You- You can't do this! I didn't know this would happen!"_

"_I'm so sorry, Shiori," Sarutobi whispered. He nodded to the two Anbu who stood by the door, and as they advanced toward her they could see her eyes grow wide with terror; she began to slowly retreat backward. Her eyes flickered to the shinobi wearing the bird mask, but then her gaze averted to his partner who wore a cat façade._

"_Kakashi," she whimpered, causing the feline-masked Anbu to freeze. "Kakashi-sensei, you know I would never do anything to betray Konoha. Please. I'm innocent. You can't just-"_

_She was silenced when the harsh bite of steel met her throat, gently caressing her jugular. Shiori began to tremble as hushed tears flowed across her cheeks._

"_If you cooperate," growled the Anbu with the avian mask, "you may reach the facility with your life."_

_Shiori felt the blood freeze within her veins, and both Kakashi and the Third Hokage witnessed the sporadic transformation of the kunoichi's eyes from a beautiful cerulean blue to an enraged red. She lashed out at the Anbu, and the sound of his body slamming into the wall reverberated throughout the office. _

_Shiori's hands wrapped around his neck, lifting him from the floor and forcing him against the wall once more. "_Never_," she growled, "threaten _me_!" She released him, and as he crumpled onto the floor she turned to glare at the Sandaime; Kakashi stood between her and the Hokage._

"_So you're attacking you fellow comrades now, also?" he asked._

"_I didn't withhold information concerning the Uchiha massacre!" she yelled at him as her blood began to boil, "I didn't kill anyone! Why can't you believe me?"_

"_That was our first mistake: We believed you when you said Itachi Uchiha was loyal to Konoha."_

_Her fist suddenly flew toward the CopyNin's face, but he grabbed her wrist and shoved it aside at the last moment to deflect the chakra-infused blow. Kakashi launched a kick toward her mid-section, but she dodged the attack and ducked low to the floor, sweeping her leg underneath him. He back-flipped to avoid the maneuver, and she charged toward him only to have both her arms ruthlessly pulled behind her back and her legs kicked out from underneath her. She fell onto her knees with a thud._

"_Gomen, Shiori-chan." The Sandaime kept his firm hold on her wrists, but the child no longer struggled. Her head was bowed to the floor, her dark brown hair hiding her face from their view while her body trembled._

"_Why would I help him," she whispered in agony, "after he murdered Shisui?"_

_Dark stains began to appear on the floor where her tears were falling. She continued to shake as her body was seized by soundless sobs, and Kakashi looked away while the feline mask hid the dark remorse on his face._

"_They're all gone," she mournfully spoke to herself. "They're _really_ gone." _

"_There's nothing we can do, Shiori," the Sandaime ignored her plight. "The council had proposed immediate execution in the beginning. You're lucky I could pull some strings in order to give you the life sentence."_

_She finally raised her watery gaze from the floor in order to glare at him, "So you're just going to lock me up like some filthy dog until I eventually wither away, huh?"_

"_You ungrateful brat!" Kakashi seethed, appalled by her insolence. "Lord Hokage spared your life-"_

"_What right do I have to live if I can't even protect those I love?" Shiori's bitter outburst silenced him._

_The other Anbu had finally risen to his feet, "You should hold your tongue when speaking to an Anbu squad leader!"_

"_SILENCE!" the Sandaime bellowed._

_As commanded, everything in the room grew still. Shiori's murderous red glare was unleashed upon both Anbu Black Ops members; so powerful was her hate that it scorched Kakashi like dancing flames. Sarutobi's gaze flickered from one shinobi to the next until he bestowed his full attention upon the pre-teen. While she knelt on the floor, her face was vacant of the tears she had shed earlier. He could sense the fear, confusion, and rage that she tried to staunch within her being. More powerful than any of those emotions was the betrayal that she painfully endured._

_She was being falsely accused, something Sarutobi knew all too well._

"_You will be placed under twenty-four hour surveillance and suicide watch," he informed. She grew tense and he increased the pressure of his hold on her wrists, "Any violation of the rights, which Kakashi will soon read to you, will result in an immediate public execution without the possibility of trial. Do you have any questions before you are escorted to prison?"_

"…_Do you think you'll get away with this?"_

Current day.

Her frigid fingertips brushed against her concrete enclosure like a feather. Slowly her palms rose to press flat against the damp wall; she leaned forward and rested her forehead against it. For five miserable long years she had been imprisoned in this, this _hell_.

There was a water leak somewhere along the corridor, and she could feel how the moisture heavily settled upon the air. The dripping echoed off the walls in a continuous rhythm, and the stench of stagnant water was harsh in her nostrils, accompanied by the ever-present smell of human waste and decay. When Shiori had first arrived the foul fragrance had made her vomit; now it was merely a bitter scent.

There were others imprisoned in the cells along the corridor. A melodious voice at the end of the chamber sung mournful war ballads, and the shinobi in the cell beside her – the latest to be imprisoned – sought conversation with those who wanted the solitude of another's voice. He had attempted to make Shiori talk several times before, but after three months he had finally given up when all that answered was silence.

Shiori pushed away from the wall, and the iron shackles bound to her ankles rattled against the concrete floor. The iron was infused with an ore that sealed every ounce of chakra seeping throughout her body, and she unconsciously rubbed at the metal cuffs that encircled her wrists, also.

"Is there anything new going on out there, Fukitsuki?" the talkative inmate beside her inquired.

There was a simultaneous rustling throughout the cells, and even Shiori turned to face the direction in which the addressed man dwelled. Fukitsuki had a unique ability which allowed him to stretch his consciousness and enter another living form such as humans, animals, and even plants. The talent was odd since it did not require the use of chakra, and the only weakness of the trait was that he could only switch from his body to another for a few hours, and he could not possess an organism and force it to perform his will.

"It seems as though," Fukitsuki's tenor voice rung throughout the cells, "without a Hokage overseeing Konoha, the village's greatest enemies have decided to strike." Murmurs hastily spread throughout the corridor. As far as everyone knew, the only enemy Konoha had to fear was Orochimaru; however, after the Konoha invasion a few months ago the snake Sannin had returned to his hideout to lick his wounds.

"And who are these new enemies?" Shiori asked, and everyone was silent as they awaited news of who was attempting to destroy Konohagakure. There was more scraping against the concrete floor as a shinobi walked forward to grasp the steel bars which separated him and all the others from freedom.

"There is a terrible organization," Fukitsuki spoke, "that has been lurking in the shadows for several years now. It is composed entirely of S-class rogue-nin, and their goal is to create a new world by capturing and harnessing the power of the bijuu."

"But how would that affect Konoha?" someone asked.

"You idiot," Shiori snapped, "The Kyuubi no Youko lives here in Konohagakure. It only makes sense that they would attack when Konoha is at its weakest."

"You are correct," Fukitsuki acknowledged. "However, the team which was sent to capture the Kyuubi does not need a handicap to conquer Konoha." Several gasps could be heard, and even Shiori's eyes narrowed in disbelief. Exactly _who _had that much power?

"The team that was recently sent to capture Uzumaki, Naruto consisted of Hoshigaki, Kisame and Uchiha, Itachi."

An outbreak of surprised shouting and colorful cursing followed Fukitsuki's revelation, yet Shiori's hands fell to her sides, limp. Sparks erupted within her dark eyes before igniting, growing in strength until her irises were such a violent red that they glowed in the darkness of the corridor.

"Uchiha…" The named was whispered with so much malicious hatred that it was as tangible as poison. She shuddered as the rage she had endured for five horrific years bubbled to the surface, and she released an infuriated scream as she slammed her fist into the concrete wall. Even without her chakra fueling the blow, the entire corridor trembled until tiny cracks began to appear in the wall, spreading further and growing in length until it resembled a giant spider's web.

Something metallic clattered onto the concrete floor, and Shiori's fist was still embedded within the wall as she glanced down to investigate the source of the sound. There, glinting amongst the tiny rocks that had scattered throughout her grimy, disgusting cell, laid the mangled remains of the chakra cuff that had adorned her right hand. Her eyes grew wide in surprise; however, gradually she realized that one of her arms had been freed from its chakra restraint.

Her body began to quiver once more as she fought the emotions that rampaged throughout her body, but she suddenly began to laugh- a frenzied, maniacal laugh that rose high above the prisoner's outbursts.

Both reviews and criticism are appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon can no longer hear the falconer;

Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood tinted tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity. "

-"Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats-

**CHAPTER ONE**

The sound of anxious footsteps echoed throughout the corridor as the Chuunin guard performed his routine inspection of the underground prisoners. The brass lantern he held aloft cast its flickering flame upon the grim expression of his face as his eyes quickly glanced from one cell to the next. With each passed cell their threats grew more atrocious, such that he felt little solstice from the thick iron bars imprisoning the cellmates as they whispered their promises of imminent death and lingering torture.

A sender hand stretched through the bars a few cells ahead of him, and the Chuunin's eyes narrowed as the index finger of the hand curled in a taunting 'come hither' gesture. As he suspiciously approached, he heard the alluring voice of the only female inmate of the entire Konohagakure Maximum Security Prison,

"Come _closer_, officer."

He obediently complied with her request, curious as to what she had to say since he had never heard her speak during his two years patrolling the cells.

Shiori's hand withdrew into the cell when he came to stand before her, the lantern dispelling the darkness of her confines. His eyes hungrily devoured the sensuous smile on her full lips and the way her pert nipples pressed against the thin material of the prison tunic. His tongue hastily moistened his lips, and she invitingly tilted her head to the side.

"_Closer_," she beckoned still, and when her body pressed against the cold metal bars his eagerly met hers. Seizing one of her breasts with his free hand he pulled her ever closer while her own hands gently reached through the bars in order to lightly trace across his vest and up his firm shoulders. Looking at him through hooded eyes, she released a soft laugh,

"I think your clothes will fit _just_ fine."

Awareness struck the Chuunin as he saw that her breathtaking smile had transformed into a cynical smirk. The keys that had once been safely tucked into a pocket on his vest were now dangling from her left hand, and the right had formed a hand sign.

"Shit!" he swore when he realized that the hand in question was no longer bound by a chakra cuff.

Her smirk grew wider, "Kanashibari no Jutsu (Temporary Paralysis Technique)."

The Chuunin's body grew as rigid as stone as his right hand continued to hold the lantern aloft- a convenient light by which she attentively watched his frightened pupils dilate to the paralysis. The other prisoners were silent as they watched her curl her fingers around the set of keys and withdraw them into her cell. She kneeled down and began to quickly flip through the keys, sliding each one into the tiny lock of the chain that bound her ankles less than shoulder-width apart. One after another failed until she heard the soft metallic _click!_ of the lock, and the chain fell away from one of her ankles and then the other once she unlocked it, also.

She searched for the key to the chakra cuffs in vain, knowing all too well that for security reasons only the prison warden had access to that particular set of keys.

Unlocking the door of her cell, she grabbed the lantern and shoved the bars open with such force that the paralyzed Chuunin toppled backward onto the moist granite floor, rattling back and forth like a stone statue. She used the same key to unlock the cell of the talkative inmate beside her and free him of the chain surrounding his ankles.

"Unlock the cells of the others and unbind their feet," she instructed while handing him the lantern. "If they don't agree to stay put until told otherwise, leave them in their cells."

As the shinobi executed her orders, she made quick work of the Chuunin guard by dragging his rigid body into her cell and beginning to strip him of his clothes. His sandals were several sizes too large, but the remainder of his clothing fit her well. There were two weapon pouches filled with shuriken and kunai knives, and by the time she strapped them to her thighs every prisoner on the underground level had been freed.

All but one.

The prisoners were gathered in a tight cluster at the end of the corridor where the only entrance was located. Although there were restless murmurs about the possibility of escape, no one attempted to leave as Shiori backtracked through the passageway until she walked into the cell where Fukitsuki was lying on his cot.

Although Shiori had never been able to see the man, she had always had the impression that he was advanced in his years. His skin was so pale and sickly that it sagged from his bones, and violet liver spots adorned his naked scalp where tufts of white hair did not stick out. His chest rattled with each exhale, and his breath came out in grinding rasps.

He was not long for the world.

"Fukitsuki," Shiori softly spoke his name. "Come. I'll carry you."

Even though he did not open his eyes, his thin lips twisted into a smile. Quietly, his firm tenor voice, surprisingly strong for such an ill man, met her ears, "I'm afraid that, even with your help, Setunai-san, my health will not permit me to endure the journey past these concrete walls."

"I'm a medic-nin-" she began, but when his eyelids fluttered and his pearlescent pupils seized hers, she was rendered speechless.

"There is no cure for this blindness," he calmly stated. He closed his eyes and drew in another shaky breath, and then he whispered, "But your sightlessness can still be reversed."

"_My_ sightlessness?" her eyebrows drew together in confusion. "But my sight is perfectly-"

"Hatred," he said, his colorless lips slowly forming the word as though it was something both delicate and volatile at the same time. "It is your hatred for Uchiha, Itachi that blinds you greater than any impenetrable darkness, any unfathomable eye injury."

Her hands clenched into fists as she knelt beside him, "And I'm wrong for doing so? Wrong for hating him for what he did to the Uchiha clan? For betraying both their trust and my own?"

When his eyes opened, they shimmered with the tangible sorrow he felt toward the young woman who had lost so much on that fateful day- her comrades, people who had been like family toward her, and her freedom. Shiori saw the look on his face and scoffed, obstinately turning her head away and saying,

"It is the duty of the living to seek justice for those who are dead."

Fukitsuki slowly shook his head and released a sigh, "Every sweet has its sour- every evil its good. Of all the truths of the world that I have discovered, this one faithfully holds true."

Hearing enough of Fukitsuki's lecture, Shiori rose to her feet and looked down at his feeble form once more, "Are you certain that you want to remain here?"

His vivid eyes bore into hers, desperately trying to figure out what was going on inside her mind. He gave up once he realized the attempt was hopeless, for there were not only impenetrable barriers around her mind, but a steel container reinforced by concrete surrounding her heart.

He nodded and relaxed against the soiled cotton of his cot, closing his eyes and taking another shaky breath. Shiori stood by his side for another moment, debating whether to take him beyond his will or allow him the freedom of making his own choice. Knowing that it would most likely be the only chance Fukitsuki would have to take control of his life before his death, Shiori respectfully left him where he lay and exited the cell.

The crowd of twenty or so prisoners silenced when she drew near, but there was no evidence of the moral confrontation she had shared with Fukitsuki on her face. Her dark eyes cut sharply through the darkness, the cunning within them flickering like candlelight.

"Now listen up."

xxx

The shadows caressed her body, enveloping her in obscurity as a Jounin casually strolled past, oblivious of her ominous presence. Her cautious eyes watched as he crossed the linoleum floor of the prison's main lobby in order to disappear through one of the four doors, and even then she patiently waited until the sound of his footsteps also vanished. Easing from the crevice in which she hid, she silently approached a dark wooden door with "Warden" boldly engraved on the iron plaque screwed into its rough surface. She knelt in front of the door and strained to hear if anyone was approaching from the other three exits. Satisfied by the silence, she leaned closer to the door and pressed her ear against it, listening for any signs of life within the office.

"—simply a list of riff-raff to be disposed of before Tsunade-hime arrives to occupy the position of Hokage."

Shiori's breath caught in her throat as she recognized the monotonous voice of Danzou, the infamous leader of Root.

"If it were only two or three executions you wanted carried out, I would not oppose you," a dubious voice stated, most likely belonging to the prison ward. "But there are seventeen people on this list, including Shiori Setunai."

Her eyes narrowed, and then she heard Danzou's chiding tone, "And what of it? Setunai deceived the entire village and was an accessory to the Uchiha clan massacre. If not for all the strings the Sandaime managed to pull, she would have been hung in the streets the very night the charges were brought against her."

His words struck her like a physical blow, causing her to wince as all the air was knocked from her chest. Her hand rose to clutch the material of the Chuunin vest that covered her heart, and she felt it painfully aching within her chest.

_Five years ago…_

_The red and white noren of Ichiraku's billowed in the soft breeze as the lanterns cast a gentle glow throughout the encroaching darkness of twilight. Sakura blossoms drifted daintily in the light wind, as white and pure as snow as they scattered across the walkways surrounding the restaurant. Shiori sat patiently beside Shisui, quietly eating her ramen while the brown-haired Uchiha sightlessly gazed into space without uttering a single word. But she waited expectantly, knowing that the only thing capable of diminishing her friend's jovial demeanor was his cousin, Itachi Uchiha._

_After several more minutes of deafening silence, she saw him bite his lower lip before inquiring, "Have you noticed anything different about Itachi lately?" _

_She swirled her chopsticks through the sea of broth and noodles in the bottom of her bowl, debating what he had asked. When her emerald green eyes met his, she could see every gold fleck in his concerned hazel orbs, "Well… I haven't noticed anything too out of the ordinary. I went shopping with Mikoto yesterday morning and helped her clean the house since Fugaku-sama _actually _took Sasuke training. Itachi-kun seemed more stressed than usual, but it's to be expected what with Anbu and his family pressuring him so much."_

_Shisui nodded in agreement, but the anxious crease between his eyes made her painfully aware that he was still troubled by something. Leaning her chopsticks against the brim of her bowl, she turned in her seat to face him directly and show him that he had her undivided attention._

_Firmly taking both his calloused hands in her own, she asked him, "What else is on your mind, Shisui-kun?"_

_As soon as he saw the impossible compassion upon her face that he always said was wasted on him, his hands began to tremble. Unadulterated terror flooded his being, a sensation so overpowering that the hair stood on the back of Shiori's neck._

"_I… It's just…" He swallowed hard, and then he took a shaky breath, "You know how they say that there's a thin line between genius and insanity?"_

"_Shiori," there were tears in his eyes when he whispered her name in agony, "I think he's lost his mind. I think he's going to massacre the Uchiha clan."_

The sound of Danzou's cane striking the floor caused Shiori to resurface from her reverie, "Since you obviously can't aid my cause, I'll take my leave."

The doorknob turned, and Shiori hastily pressed her body against the wall as the door swung open into the lobby and completely shielded her from view. Her heart leaped into her throat as she watched first one and then a second shadow drift past from inside the office, most likely Danzou's guards. The slower, less rhythmic stride that followed belonged to the Root leader himself and Shiori found herself holding her breath as he gradually made his way toward one of the exits.

As soon as the door sealed, she heard the prison warden from inside the office angrily stomp toward his own door. The knob slightly jingled as it was violently seized, and he slammed it shut with an even more infuriated curse muttered under his breath.

Shiori released the breath she had been holding and eased away from the wall, but as soon as her right foot landed on the floor a deafening alarm began to shriek throughout the entire compound.

She smirked as she realized everything was going according to plan- the inmates she had freed had begun their assault against the prison guards, creating a convenient distraction as Shiori herself found a way to successfully flee Konoha. Whether or not the others escaped meant nothing to Shiori- unlike her, they had actually committed crimes that warranted their punishment.

The alarm continued squealing as Shiori seized the door and slammed it open, feigning a mixed expression of shock and confusion when she saw the warden standing in the center of his office.

"Sir!" she exclaimed, pretending to be the Chuunin she was dressed as while sprinting into his office, doubling over with her hands on her knees and pretending to catch her breath.

"Well?" the stocky man barked, still unaware as to why the alarms were ringing in his ears. "What the hell is happening?"

Shiori looked up at him from her awkward stance, "Every prisoner in the underground facility has escaped, sir!"

"_Fuck_," he swore, immediately running from the office without sparing his informant a second glance. He disappeared through the same exit Danzou had used earlier, and then Shiori closed the office door behind her before beginning her search for the keys to the chakra cuffs binding her ankles and left wrist.

The room was minimalistic with its beige walls lined by many gray filing cabinets. A solid wooden desk behind which a lumpy black leather chair was set were positioned in front of the only window in the entire prison. She quickly walked over to the desk and began to search through its many drawers, finding nothing except blank stationary, multi-colored paper clips, and cheap plastic ink pens. When the search turned up nothing, her last resort was the unmarked filing cabinets positioned along the walls.

One by one Shiori jerked open the filing cabinets, the pounding in her head and the ear-splitting alarm causing her to become so desperate in her search that she began recklessly dumping their contents onto the stained carpeted floor. After searching through hundreds of drawers, she began to panic and wonder whether the keys had been with the warden when he sprinted from the office.

Anxiously drawing her hands down her face, she took a deep, calming breath and glanced at the desk once more. She finally realized that a dark jacket was thrown across the back of the chair, and when she approached the desk once more and began to thoroughly comb through the contents of the pockets a metallic _clink-clink_ could be heard.

A devilish smile spread across Shiori's face as she withdrew a set of keys from the breast pocket. Kneeling down, she began to slide one key after the next into the locks of the chakra cuffs binding her ankles. She found the correct key after only the third attempt, and she sighed in relief as the metal shackles fell onto the floor.

She pulled back her left sleeve to reveal the only remaining manacle, but before she could find the correct key she heard the doorknob turn and watched as the door swung open. Her eyes locked on Danzou and his two guards, and although the Root members thought she was a Chuunin, the elder shinobi obviously knew her identity.

Raising his cane from the floor in order to point at her, Danzou's command raised high above the piercing prison siren,

"Kill her!"

The guards ran toward her, but before they were halfway across the room Shiori had already pocketed the keys. Giving Danzou a mocking salute, Shiori buried her sandals into the carpet and kicked backward, her shoulders shattering the glass behind her as she broke through the window and fell two hundred feet to the ground below. The Root shinobi leaped through the window in order to give chase, leaving Danzou alone in the office.

His face was grave as he stared at the shattered remnants of glass.

xxx

The lone Anbu's feet glided over the tree branches like the wind, its movements swift and agile as it leaped from the lush canopy and down onto the soft ground. Their black cloak billowed behind them as they dashed across the smooth face of a winding river, using their chakra to stay afloat. Only when the Anbu cleared the water and found refuge underneath the curtain-like leaves of a willow tree did they stop and lean against its rough bark.

A bloodstained hand rose to remove their wolf mask, revealing Shiori's ashen face.

She released her grip on it, allowing it to fall onto the forest floor with a _thunk!_ before she too slid down the trunk of the tree and fell onto her knees. The sky was steadily beginning to darken as dusk approached, and although she had finally crossed the Fire Country border the sound of the prisons screeching alarms still rung in her ears.

She leaned back onto her haunches, still exhausted by her chaotic journey. Not only had the two Root members followed her throughout Fire Country, but Konohagakure Anbu had joined the pursuit as well. The reason why she was currently dressed in Anbu attire was because she had managed to separate a novice Anbu from his squad and kill him, taking his clothing and weapons supply. Shiori figured that they would be less likely to identify her if she deserted her Chuunin outfit and assumed a new disguise, but now that she was outside of Fire Country's border there was nothing Konohagakure could do until they received permission from the leader of River Country to pursue her in Amegakure- an extremely unlikely event.

Leaning her back against the tree, she reached into one of her many pockets and withdrew the ring of keys she had found in the warden's office. She unlocked the last chakra cuff on her wrist and chucked both the keys and silver shackle into the river, causing hundreds of ripples to disturb the relative calm of the beautiful blue water.

Still exhausted by her chaotic journey, Shiori began crawling on her hands and knees toward the cool water. The sensation of the crisp grass brushing against her palms startled her for a moment, causing her to pause and gaze down at the millions of green blades below her. She noticed how the miniature droplets of dew clinging to the grass reflected the brilliant afternoon sun, shimmering like carefully faceted diamonds all across the riverbank. As the warm caress of the sun seeped through her clothing, she knelt at the edge of the river and submerged her cupped hands underneath the gentle current. Shiori smiled at the pleasantness of the cool water, but when she withdrew her hands from the river to drink she froze, shocked by the savage face reflecting back at her from within the tiny pool with a similarly surprised expression.

She had been imprisoned for _so long_.

The caramel highlights she once put in her light brown hair had disappeared, giving way to matted tangles of hair with brittle split ends. Her skin was ashen and sickly due to the lack of sunlight exposure for five years, and it was also covered in a fine layer of the filth and grime that had accumulated upon her skin since her last shower approximately a year ago. The dark circles underneath her eyes made her look a decade older than what she truly was; the hollowness of her cheekbones was evidence of her lack of proper nourishment.

Splashing the water onto her face, she returned her hands to the water in order to take several drinks. She leaned back onto the balls of her feet and closed her eyes, relishing the refreshing aftertaste of the pure river water.

And then she heard it.

The birds had stopped singing from within the lush canopies of the trees, and even the gnats seemed to have taken shelter in the reeds of the still pools of water along the riverbank. The forest surrounding her was holding its breath, and every hair on her neck rose.

It was quiet.

_Too_ quiet.

Instantly, thousands of bubbles began to break through the surface of the river directly in front of her. She looked into its depths and saw an enormous shadow racing toward her from below, its jaws opening to reveal rows upon rows of jagged teeth.

The shark crashed through the surface with a deafening splash, its huge jaws clamping around her body with the strength to crush bone. The teeth buried themselves into her flesh, ripping and tearing at her skin.

As blood surged forth from her mouth, she smirked,

"Nice try."

And then they exploded- both Shiori and the shark detonating in a powerful burst of water.

She perched on the branch of a nearby tree, concealed by its thick leaves and watching as the river's turbulent surface subsided into its calm state once more. She scanned the forest for her assailant, but they were suppressing their chakra to such an extent that Shiori couldn't pinpoint his or her location.

Her eyes suddenly narrowed and she leaped away from the tree just as a large, bandaged broadsword crashed into its thick trunk, shattering it into millions of splinter-like fragments.

"Well, well, well," a mocking voice broke through the silence of the forest, drawing Shiori's attention to the rubble of the tree as she hid behind the trunk of another willow.

"I didn't think you Konoha bastards would follow us all the way out here."

She saw him standing atop the broken carcass of the tree, the slight breeze causing the cloth strands of his kasa to flutter against his pale blue cheeks. He was clad in a black cloak adorned by red clouds, and his large hand grasped the yellow-scaled handle of his enormous sword. She noticed that the bandages had unraveled to reveal even larger blue scales that belonged to only one sword in the entire world, and Shiori immediately knew the identity of the shinobi.

Hoshigaki, Kisame.

"_The team that was recently sent to capture Uzumaki, Naruto consisted of Hoshigaki, Kisame and Uchiha, Itachi."_

"Why don't you come meet your maker, little Konoha-nin?"

He reared back and hurled his sword into the thicket of trees were Shiori was hiding. It crashed through the forest like a boomerang, striking one tree after the next and leaving them shattered and cleaved in its destructive wake. She leapt out of its range, but her eyes grew wide when the sword seemed to change direction of its own accord, allowing it to spiral toward her while reducing boulders to dust and causing craters in the earth.

The onslaught didn't end until Kisame held out his hand and caught the sword once it returned to him.

"Where are you hiding, little polliwog?"

He was answered by a brutal kick to the gut. His body barreled through the forest before crashing into the surface of the river and sinking into its depths. Shiori was breathing heavily as she stood in the middle of the devastation, massaging her wrists in agony because the sensation of chakra flowing throughout her entire body once more caused intense pain. She was acutely aware of how the intricate network of chakra channels felt like rusted pipes- clogged and scarred by irreparable damage. Yet even as sweat dripped down her brow she kept her eyes locked on the surface of the river where her target had disappeared.

A rustling emanated from the woods behind her. Back flipping, she narrowly dodged the swing of his lethal blade. She leaped into the air, tossing a handful of kunai and shuriken which rained toward him, causing him to jump away without a second to spare.

They both landed a few yards away from each other, and Shiori noticed that his kasa had been abandoned during the fight. His dark eyes gazed at her indifferently, neither brimming with bloodlust nor contemplating blatant surrender.

"Why don't you say we put an end to this? That way," he paused, taking in her haggard form, "I don't waste my time, and you time to see another day."

"That's a very appealing offer." Shiori watched him with wary eyes as he slowly fastened his sword into its sheath.

As soon as it was locked into place, the cool bite of metal was against his throat.

"Playing dirty, eh?" he chuckled, mocking her even though she could hear the strain in his voice. She pressed the blade of her kunai even further into his flesh, causing a single bead of blood to slither down the muscular column of his throat.

"I said that it was an appealing offer," she smirked. "But I never said that I agree."

"Well…that's too bad."

Narrow blue spikes suddenly protruded through the remaining bandages of the sword and pierced her body. She gagged on the mixture of blood and bile that rose in her throat and her kunai fell to the ground by his feet. He slammed his elbow into her gut, causing her body to slam into the trunk of the tree behind her with such brute force that blood seeped out from between her lips and flowed down her chin.

She pressed her palms against the tree to push herself away from it, but before she could move the wispy branches of the willow wrapped around her wrists and immobilized her. Kisame paused in the action of picking up the kunai she had dropped in order to stare at the tree in surprise, also. Shiori's confusion transformed into sheer panic when she could feel the trunk of the tree gnarling in shape, wooden branches emanating from the tree and coiling around her torso before beginning to drag her flush against its trunk. She cursed, kicked, and clawed at the tree until more limbs bound her ankles, completely immobilizing her.

"It seems I got her just in time."

The voice was directly above her, and she craned her neck only to come face-to-face with possibly the strangest thing she had ever encountered: Protruding from the tree as though it was meant to be there, an enormous fly-trap like enclosure contained the upper torso of a man which was split into a black and white half. His eyes were yellow and without a pupil as they gazed at Kisame.

"What the hell are you doing here, Zetsu-san?" Kisame inquired, dropping the kunai into his own weapon pouch.

"Leader sent me to retrieve her before she got herself killed," the plant hybrid's voice roughly spoke.

"Why would Leader-sama want a Konohagakure Anbu?" he asked, but when the man moved his lips to answer he froze, apparently startled by something.

"She isn't an Anbu."

She felt as though a sword had plunged itself through her heart. Dark, sensuous, frigid- his voice immediately made her mind slip into a dismal, excruciating abyss, crippling her and forever stealing her breath. It was the exact same as it had been five years ago, reawakening raw memories and unsettling the ghosts she had long laid to rest.

Her eyes slowly traced his form from the blue material of his sandals to the thick collar of his dark cloak. Something died deep within her when she saw the silver necklace clasped around his throat, and unadulterated, bitter hatred flooded every fiber of her being, materializing as her dark eyes transformed into a malignant blood red.

Their powerful gazes met, but Shiori did not tremble like most shinobi do when they find themselves before Uchiha, Itachi.

"_How dare you_," she seethed as he stared at her with indifference. "That necklace… I gave that necklace to Shisui before he died." She gritted her teeth, biting back the blind rage she felt until she couldn't hold it no more,

"You _bastard_! How dare you even walk this earth after-"

She gagged when a tree branch coiled tightly around her throat, cutting off her oxygen. Her eyes grew wide as something stabbed into her neck, and all her muscles suddenly went slack. She couldn't form any coherent thoughts- even as she stared into the forbidding, crimson depths of the sharingan.

xxx

"_I'm just __**so confused**__, Shiori." _

_Shisui's breath was hot and moist as it fanned across her lips, warming her as they stood in the snow-laden forest. His gloved hand was pressed over her heart, feeling it race and pound against her chest. Caramel-colored eyes locked on hers, stealing her breath when she saw the unadulterated fear and exasperation in his expression._

"_I just don't….__**know**__…"_

_His hand slowly ascended from her heart, feeling like a feather up the slender column of her throat until he found the fluttering pulse there. He brushed his thumb over it, feeling it flutter like a butterfly captured in someone's hands. Shiori closed her eyes, painfully aware that Shisui was seeking solstice in her presence to keep his own nightmares at bay._

"_I just can't…__**stop**__…"_

_His other arm wrapped around her back, pulling her against him while his fingers combed through her soft hair, cradling her head. The vapor of their breath combined as his nose brushed against hers, and her eyes slowly opened to reveal the misery she was enduring._

"_I just can't stop…__**hurting**__ you."_

_The words were an agonized whisper against her lips, and Shisui finally surrendered himself to his fears as tears silently fell from his eyes._

xxx

She had never experienced death before, but she knew that it was cold. Then why – if that much she was certain – did her body feel so _hot_? It was as though flames had consumed her and were lapping at her body, torturing her. How could she feel the sweat upon her skin if she was dead? How could she feel the hands _pulling_ at her flesh if she was dead?

"She's regaining consciousness," someone stated.

"Good, finish stitching her up."

The tugging at her skin resumed, and she barely managed to stifle her anguished groan. The sensation was so strange- as though something was burrowing through her chest cavity, weaving in and out in a sewing motion. She managed to open her eyes just long enough to see the long, black, snake-like tendrils burrowing themselves underneath her flesh like worms.

She rolled onto her side and vomited, causing her consciousness to reel once more as she began to fight against the hands that held her down. She immediately exerted her energy and blacked out, but she reawakened once more when something cold pressed against her forehead; Shiori slowly opened her eyes only to have a pale gray ceiling revealed to her. She would have mistaken the room for her prison cell if not for the fact that someone was standing by her side, looking down at her with eerie, glowing gray-ringed orbs.

"My name is Pein," he informed. "Welcome to Akatsuki."

xxx

Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

"The calm,

Cool face of the river

Asked me for a kiss."

~"Suicide's Note" by Langston Hughes~

**CHAPTER THREE**

"_**I'm tired of the duties."**_

_Nakano River's raging waters consumed her, dragging her deeper into its depths and submerging her in darkness. The vicious current was indecisive; it yanked her in a different direction each passing second, nauseating her so badly that her consciousness reeled. The water stung her eyes as she peered through the frenzied water, desperately searching for the surface that she madly clawed for with her free arm; the other encircled Shisui's cold waist._

"_**There is no future for Uchiha…"**_

_She broke through the surface as though it was glass, gasping for air like a newborn. The churning water surged past them, washing them further down the river; as it began to wrench Shisui from her grasp, Shiori wrapped both her arms around him. The combined weight of their soaked clothes and Shisui's unconscious body began to tug her underneath the surface once more, but she concentrated the pathetic amount of her remaining chakra into the soles of her feet in an attempt to keep their heads above water._

"_Shiori!"_

_The shout was muffled by the pouring rain and rampant river, but Shiori heard it and peered through the darkness toward the bank. Kakashi was running toward them across the water's agitated surface. _

"…_**and for me."**_

_Kakashi gently lowered Shisui onto the riverbank as Shiori pulled herself from the water. The CopyNin set his fingers against the pale column of the Uchiha's throat._

_There was no pulse._

"_Don't just stand there!" Shiori snapped, shoving Kakashi away and coming to kneel by Shisui's side. She used a kunai to cut away his shirt, and then she positioned the heel of her left hand against the midline of his chest; threading the fingers of her right hand through those of her left, she began to perform chest compressions._

"_One and two and," she counted aloud to herself, "three and four and…"_

_Sorrow settled upon Kakashi's being as he watched her perform CPR. Her arms began to tremble after the fifth cycle, but she refused to stop and he couldn't bring himself to make her. He could hear her quietly pleading, "Come back to me" and "Don't, Shisui. _Please_. Don't."_

_He silently watched as she did it again-_

"_Please, Shisui."_

_And again-_

"_Dammit, Shisui! Please!"_

_And again._

"_**I cannot walk out the 'path' any further."**_

_Gradually, awareness began to replace the determination in her eyes. She had finally depleted what remained of her strength, and the recognition in her eyes transformed into blatant denial as she stared at Shisui's peaceful expression. Kakashi averted his gaze to the raining clouds. He had seen the same horrifying situation many times during his life as a shinobi._

"_No," he heard her softly whisper. Her hands began to shake, and so she clutched the Mirage-nin's vest like a vise. "No… No! Shisui!" She shook him, trying to make him wake as she stared at him with terror in her eyes. "Shisui! You-" Her voice broke as a sob managed to escape her, and Kakashi cautiously rested a hand against her shoulder and whispered, _

"_He's dead."_

"_No," she choked, "He can't be. He said- He said…"_

'_A shinobi must never show their tears,' Kakashi mournfully thought as he stared at her. She was trembling, attempting to contain all her emotions as she stared at Shisui._

"_There has to be something," she spoke quietly, "There are forbidden jutsu-"_

"_No!" Kakashi snapped, "There's nothing we can do. Shiori, he's dead."_

"_Shut up!" she suddenly rounded on him, startling the CopyNin and causing him to step back. She returned her gaze to the vacant look in Shisui's eyes, and she slowly wiped a long strand of brown hair from his forehead and tucked it behind his ear. There was a beautiful smile upon his face, the smile she had loved _so much_._

_With a sob, she threw herself onto the dead shinobi's chest. She clung to him as though he was her last breath. All the while crying, shedding tears that Kakashi had never before seen as she softly begged, pleaded for him to wake up, to not leave her. It was heartbreaking for Kakashi to watch, but he had no choice as he wrapped his arms around her, trying to pull her away._

"_No!" she screamed, struggling against Kakashi's hold. She couldn't leave him. She had promised she would help him! "Let go of me!"_

"_He's _gone_, Shiori!" he snarled. "We can't bring him back! We're not gods!"_

"_I don't care!" she cried, looking over her shoulder and seeing Shisui's dead body lying upon the muddy bank, the rain falling upon him. "Shisui!" she wailed in despair, reaching toward him as her other hand buried its nails into Kakashi's arms, surprising him and causing him to release her._

_She stumbled, losing her footing and falling onto her hands and knees. Wretched tears fell from her eyes as she gazed into the puddle of water before her. As she stared at it, the rippling reflection within was not of Shiori. _

_Itachi Uchiha's face stared back at her._

_She screamed in agony, her cry louder than the rolling thunder._

A shadow overcame Shiori as she slept. Dark, inquisitive eyes scrutinized her, noticing that her chest had yet to rise and fall. Her breathing could not be heard, either. Her skin was pale, and the shadow cautiously reached across her, its hand gradually coiling around Shiori's neck.

Just as Shiori's wrapped around theirs.

"I meant you no harm!" they gasped for breath as her hand dug into their flesh.

The feminine voice made Shiori open her eyes, and she relinquished her fatal hold once she realized she was choking a woman standing at the side of the bed. She had doe-like hazel eyes and long, curly blonde hair. She was several years older than Shiori and wore a very short black skirt and red bustier, but she didn't look too happy as she massaged the hand-shaped bruise Shiori had created on her neck.

"I was just checking your pulse," she explained. "I couldn't tell whether you were breathing or not. I thought you were dead."

Shiori ignored her while she talked and began to sit up, but she groaned as a fire ignited in her chest and spread throughout her body.

In a crashing wave, everything came back to her: escaping from the Konohagakure Maximum Security Prison, getting injured by and escaping an Anbu Black Ops squadron, and her battle with Kisame Hoshigaki. She remembered falling unconscious, but reawakening afterward while someone stitched her wounds.

While she sat on the edge of the bed with her feet on the floor, she realized that her entire torso, from hips to collar bones, was encased in thick bandages. Although she wore no shirt, the Anbu pants she had previously wore still clung to her waist, rugged with rips, soil, and blood. Her sandals were still on her feet. Raising her gaze to inspect her surroundings, she saw that she was in a small gray room that was completely absent of decor except the metal gurney bed upon which she sat. The overall effect was rather depressing as flickering torches illuminated the gloomy space.

"Where am I?" Shiori finally asked, fixing her gaze on the woman.

She shook her head, "I'm afraid I can't tell you that."

"Then who are you?"

"Yumiko," she smiled. "I'm one of Akatsuki's wards and supervise the duties of other servants. What's your name?"

"A slave, huh?" Shiori deliberately avoided the question.

"I enjoy it, actually," Yumiko winked at her as a blissful smile appeared on her face. "It's forbidden for members to have relationships outside of Akatsuki, and I'll be the first to tell you that they're as good in bed as they are on the battlefield."

Shiori blanched, but the ward suddenly took her hand and pulled her from the bed. "Come on," she said as she opened the door and began to guide Shiori through a candlelit stone passageway, "Leader-sama said that he wants you cleaned up before meeting him."

Shiori remembered the man who had been standing by the bed the first time she had regained unconsciousness- the one with the gray-ringed eyes. He had introduced himself as Pain, and he had also welcomed her to Akatsuki. Was that where she was? Akatsuki?

"Ah! Here we are," Yumiko sung as she opened a black door.

Torches ignited within the room as Shiori entered, and she saw that the chamber was composed entirely of granite and rose thirty feet into the air where dagger-like stalactites hung from the roof of the cave. Toward the back of the cave there was a fracture in the ceiling, and Shiori stared in awe as steaming water surged forth from the crack, falling like a waterfall onto the pebbled floor below before being rapidly absorbed. The rock wall to her left had been carved and fashioned into shelves that held stacks of towels and washcloths, bottles of shampoo and body wash, and neatly folded clothes.

"I'll be back with a few other necessities in a moment," Yumiko said as she retreated from the room. "Enjoy."

Shiori heard the click of the lock once the door was closed, and then she walked over to the shelves and began to sort through the bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Every product, even the soap and deodorant, was absent of decorative scent. Instead, as she opened the cap on the shampoo and inhaled, she smelled the forest: crisp blades of dew laden grass and moist rocks, the sap slowly trickling down the calloused bark of a tree. Then again, if rogue-nin like those in Akatsuki had any desire to remain rogues, it was in their best interest to blend with their surroundings. Even a non-shinobi could smell peppermint and rosemary shampoo within the depths of the forest.

Gathering what she needed, Shiori advanced toward the cascading stream of water and set the bottles of shampoo, washcloth, and bar of soap just out of its reach. She was careful as she bent down to removed her sandals and unfasten her pants. She could tell by the waxy coating on her bandages that they were waterproof, and when she stepped underneath the steady flow of water she released a groan of ecstasy.

The water was scorching hot as it flowed across her pale skin in branching streams, but Shiori relished the strong current as it warmed her all the way to her aching bones. It was the first shower she had had in five years.

Her hands coursed through her hair, lathering it with the shampoo and soon washing it away to begin treating it to a handful of conditioner. The clear water that plunged onto the smooth pebble floor was soon tainted by foaming piles of soap bubbles, discolored by the dried blood and filth that had accumulated upon her flesh since her last frigid hose-down at prison. Yet even as she vigorously scrubbed her skin with the washcloth until she was raw, she could not cleanse away the layer of impenetrable bitterness and hatred that she felt for having spent five of her seventeen years wasting away in incarceration. Nearly a quarter of her life- _gone_.

After washing her hair a third time, she removed herself from the steaming waterfall and gently dried her hair with a towel before wrapping the soft black material around her body. She returned the bottles of shampoo and bar of soap to the stone shelves, and then she located a brush and began to tame her hair. The pleasurable sensation of the bristles gliding across her scalp made her melt, but even though she had used half the bottle of conditioner it took her at least five minutes to brush through each snag until she reached the tip of her hair where it fell just past the curve of her hip.

She was beginning to search through the sets of clothes arranged on the shelves when there was a knock on the door. Shiori wrapped the towel tighter around herself as Yumiko entered with a bag held in one hand.

"I brought a fresh set of clothes for you and some food," she said, and handed Shiori the bag. "I'll be waiting outside for you to finish so that I can escort you to Leader-sama's office."

"Fantastic," Shiori muttered under her breath as the blonde ward exited the room and closed the door once more.

Shiori set the bag on the floor and knelt down in order to unzip it. Reaching inside, she pulled out a change of clothes that was in her size and began to dress. Due to the bandages constricting her chest, the bra laid forgotten on the floor as she pulled on the new set of sandals. Her stomach released a miserable growl when she saw the ration bars lying in the bottom of the bag, and she quickly released them from their foil wrappers and eagerly devoured them. She was so hungry she ignored the mixture of stale honey, crusty fruit, and un-chewable nuts. Besides, the only food she had eaten in prison was moldy bread and the occasional tablespoon of dry rice.

There was a bottle of water in the bag, and Shiori twisted off the cap and chugged its chilled contents in only a few seconds. She continued to explore the contents of the bag and found a hair tie that she used to bind her hair once she gathered it at the base of her neck.

For the first time in years, she was beginning to feel like a human being.

She opened the door and saw that Yumiko was leaning against the opposite wall. Without a word, she took the bag from Shiori and began to lead her through the stone passageway. As they walked Shiori attempted to memorize every turn they made and each door they passed, but everything became jumbled after the seventh twist in the glowing corridor and the passing of the twenty-seventh door. Each time a random person passed them in the passageway, her eyes searched for a black cloak with red clouds only to realize they were servants like Yumiko.

"He is waiting for you in here," the ward came to a halt outside a black door no different from the others. Yumiko opened the door and bowed, saying, "I have brought Setunai, Shiori, Leader-sama."

"Send her in."

Shiori boldly entered the room, discovering that it was nothing more than an office. There were more shelves engraved into the walls, playing host to a various selection of books, the most tattered of which appeared to be the Bingo Book. There was a lush red and black carpet in the center of the room, upon which set a polished wooden desk with a single folder upon its surface. There was a matching wooden chair tucked underneath the desk's alcove, and standing behind it, with his hands gripping the backrest of the chair, was a man.

He wore the black cloak embellished with crimson clouds, and there was an Amegakure headband – through the center of which was embedded a deep slash - on his forehead. His skin was lightly tanned and flawless except for the steel piercings that ravished his flesh. His wild orange hair clashed with his gray eyes, and as Shiori saw the rings within them she remembered the man who had been present when she first regained unconsciousness.

But that mattered little compared to the knowledge that he possessed the Rinnegan.

"I introduced myself previously," he said once the door was closed, "but I don't believe your mental capacity was at its best after you were stitched up."

Shiori's eyes narrowed, "Your name is Pain. And I believe that I'm not an imbecile while overcome by physical agony."

A smile teased his lips as he pulled out the chair and took a seat, "I must apologize for each of my subordinate's rude behavior. Itachi-" he noticed how the pupils of her eyes instantly turned red at the mention of his name "-and Kisame had not been informed of my intentions to bring you here."

"And exactly where is 'here?'" she inquired.

Even though he was seated, every fiber of her being was tense. Unlike anyone she had ever met, this man flaunted his supremacy as though it was a fine coat, and the power that he radiated was nearly enough to suffocate her. On many missions during her past, Shiori had encountered various levels of greed, power, and lust. But all that was nothing compared to Pain. By simply looking at him, she could tell that he was one of _those_ people- one who was corrupted by his own strength.

"We're in the northern section of Shinobazu Territory in River Country, just three miles from Amegakure and Fire Country's Forest of Death."

"Why am I here?"

He casually opened the folder that lay upon his desk, and Shiori was mildly shocked when she saw a picture of herself staring up from the front page.

"You've recently been promoted from a B-class shinobi to an S-class missing-nin," he informed. Tapping a finger against the freshly published "Wanted" poster, he said, "Congratulations. You now have a half a million dollar bounty on your head."

Shiori stood in silence as the candlelight danced across her skin. Pain set his elbows upon the desk, knotting his fingers together before resting his chin on them.

"Have you ever heard of Akatsuki, Shiori-san?"

"_There is a terrible organization," Fukitsuki spoke, "that has been lurking in the shadows for several years now. It is composed entirely of S-class rogue-nin, and their goal is to create a new world by capturing and harnessing the power of the bijuu."_

"Although we were isolated in a private cell during incarceration," she spoke, "we prisoners knew what was happening in the daylight world better than those living in it."

"And what have you heard?" he asked.

She shifted her weight to her other foot and leaned her neck to the side in order to pop it. She stared at him dispassionately, "Apparently it is a mercenary group consisting of S-class missing-nin from assorted countries. I heard that the goal is to create a new world via the bijuu."

He leaned back in his chair, "You sound skeptic. Why?"

"Seriously?" she scoffed. "A new world? That's impossible. It isn't the world that needs repair, it's the people."

"And that is what Akatsuki shall accomplish- renovating the entire world so that it is not the Five Great Shinobi Villages which control the on-goings of the land, but a single, unified body of capable shinobi."

"And that 'unified body' being the Akatsuki?" she asked. "I passed many servants on my trip to this office, and they don't appear too organized to me."

"They are merely what you say- servants, slaves. The true Akatsuki is composed of only nine individuals."

"And how do you plan on conquering the world with only nine shinobi, may I ask?"

He released a soft chuckle and said, "I have already divulged too much information already. However, if you choose to join Akatsuki, I will answer every question you have."

"I just broke out of prison," she huffed, an incredulous expression on her face, "Why in the world would I turn around and enslave myself to an organization that has the unrealistic dream of world domination?"

"Akatsuki can protect you."

It was her turn to release a short, sarcastic laugh, "Protect me? From _what_?"

"From Konoha," he said, but a sly look gradually blossomed within his steel-gray eyes, "…and your _mother_."

All traces of humor vanished from her face, immediately replaced by a cautious expression.

"Oh, yes," he chuckled. "I know all about your mother, Takako Kaitou. She is the lord of Kaitou no Kuni – your actual birth country - is she not?"

Shiori's eyes narrowed. _No one_ knew that she had not been birthed in Konoha, not even the Sandaime Hokage himself. She was five years old when she had been found on the muddy bank of Nakano River, and since the village had possessed no record of her birth the Hokage had simply assumed she was an unregistered orphan of refugees. She had been granted full Konohagakure no Sato citizenship and no one had ever asked any questions…

"How?" she seethed. "How did you find out?"

His finger tapped the front page of the folder once more, "I'm nothing if not thorough during my investigations."

As she approached the desk he slid the folder toward her, allowing her to leaf through the large stack of documents within. There were statements from every mission she had ever completed as a shinobi, as well as financial documents for everything from her old apartment's rent to the last bowl of sukiyaki she had bought from the barbecue house. There were written references signed by her previous teachers, friends, and the Third Hokage himself which had helped her rapidly advance through the shinobi ranks.

Those same signatures were at the bottom of the forms which sentenced her to prison.

She closed the folder and looked deep into his empty eyes, "Like I said- what do you want with me?"

"It is as I said- I want you to join Akatsuki."

His words were still so incredulous that she couldn't help but shake her head, but, before she could say anything, Pain rose to his feet. He walked around the desk and passed her, turning his head to glance at her from over his shoulder,

"Follow me."

Her curiosity piqued, she followed him into the hall. He silently lead her through the candle-lit passageways, never once glancing back at her as her eyes bore into the back of his head. She contemplated striking out and breaking his neck, then escaping in haste. However, in the recess of her mind, she knew that would be impossible. She acknowledged that Pain was much stronger than herself, and, not only that, but there were the other Akatsuki members and all their underlings to worry about. Their hideout was impregnable and impossible to navigate, also.

The quiet dripping of water gradually transformed into the loud rushing of water the further they walked. Shiori's sharp eyes could make out the shafts of light bouncing against the wall at the end of the passageway, and she could both smell and feel the moisture growing thicker in the damp cave air.

When they finally reached the end of the stone corridor, it opened up into a large, cavernous space. Light filtered through the cascading waterfall that fell down the face of the cliff within which Akatsuki was hidden, the curtain of water concealing the cave opening from all outsiders.

Shiori suddenly froze when she saw the two shinobi who stood at the mouth of the cave.

Kisame was leaning against the damp rock wall, arms crossed over his chest as his beady eyes focused on Shiori, a dangerous smile on his face. His partner, Itachi Uchiha, stood motionless beside him.

Her body tensed, but she made no move as their gazes met. She noticed that she wasn't the only one who had changed. His hair was longer, darker. He was finally taller than her, but only by an inch or two. His skin had been pale when they were younger, but it was more of a rich cream tone, now. As she gazed into his cold, empty sharingan eyes, she realized that they didn't hold an ounce of recognition. Everything suddenly clicked inside her mind, fitting like pieces of a puzzle.

He didn't recognize her.

But how would he? She was an emaciated skeleton of barely a hundred pounds, and looked like a bowl of death that had been reheated in the microwave. Her hair and skin lacked the lively luster it once had, and the bandages bound her chest so tightly that she could have been mistaken for a scrawny boy.

"I'm willing to make a deal with you," Pain proposed, drawing her attention.

Her eyes narrowed, "A deal?"

"Yes." He inclined his head, nodding toward the two shinobi, "If you can beat Kisame or Itachi, I'll let you go scot-free."

Shiori resisted the impulse to laugh, "What makes you believe that I trust you enough to do that? You'll just send someone after me again or kill me."

"I could," he shrugged. "But I highly doubt that you have any chance of winning against a genuine Akatsuki member."

"You give them too much credit. If they weren't in packs, I wouldn't even be here in the first place."

"Would you like to prove that?" Pain asked, an arrogant smirk on his face.

Shiori glanced back over at where Kisame and Itachi stood. Her gaze lingered on Itachi for a moment longer than she desired, and Pain noticed.

"If you beat Itachi, you walk away a free woman."

"But the point of this is so that I _won't_ walk away."

He didn't reply, and Shiori knew – perhaps from the moment she was captured – that he wasn't going to let her go free. Pain was a dangerous man, knowing exactly which buttons to press and which strings to pull in order to transform everyone around him into obedient puppets. He knew that she had a burning hatred for Itachi, but _Shiori_ knew better than to let her desire for revenge to cloud her mind.

But how great would it feel to finally be able to release all the hatred she felt?

"Fine," she agreed while staring right into his sharingan eyes. "I'll fight him."

Kisame chuckled as he shook his head, "You picked the wrong person to mess with, kid. At least, with me, you would have died a lot faster."

A small outcropping of rocks formed a foot-wide ledge behind the plummeting waterfall. The stone was slick with algae and water, making Shiori stay as close to the cliff wall as possible as they used the ledge in order to descend toward the ground below. The roar of the fall echoed in her ears, drowning out the sound of their footsteps. She could feel the tremendous force of the waterfall shaking the path, and she watched as the dirt and tiny stone pebbles washed away with the steady current. The waterfall reminded her of the rain that she missed to much, and she couldn't help but reach out and let her fingers touch the moving curtain. The water was warm, heated by the sun which shone just beyond it.

She withdrew her hand when they reached the ground, but it was only to shield her eyes from the blinding light. The others didn't seem bothered by the bright rays, and Shiori realized she was still photosensitive from spending so many years in darkness. She lowered her hand to her side once she grew accustomed to the light.

She felt the sun's rays warming her body as they crossed a lush meadow. The crisp blades of grass were still covered in dew, dampening the bottoms of her pants and the exposed parts of her feet. Random wildflowers stretched in the sunlight, dotting the field with specks of color. The river caused by the fall stretched for approximately a mile until it disappeared into a thick forest.

"You will fight here," Pain said, stopping about halfway across the meadow and turning to face, not Shiori, but Kisame. "Give her your weapons, Kisame."

The shark-nin grumbled under his breath, but he obeyed Pain's order. He unclasped the front of his cloak and unbuckled his weapon belt. He pulled it through the loops on his pants, and then he unfastened the pouch which was attached to his knee. He tossed both of them to her and said, "Weapons won't help you at all, kid."

She ignored him as she fastened the belt around her hips, inspecting the pouch to find a large pile of kunai. She tied the knee holster around her left thigh, also checking it and finding shuriken. Shiori usually didn't utilize weapons since they always left a shinobi wide open for attack after a kunai or shuriken was thrown, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially when it came to fighting Itachi Uchiha.

She glanced toward him only to see that he was gazing at the forest, his eyes empty as a million thoughts silently rushing through his head. It was obvious that he didn't even want to be bothered with her, and his arrogance irritated her beyond belief.

_But that's alright_, Shiori smirked. He was already underestimating her, and, since she remembered him and he didn't remember her, she would have the ultimate advantage. She understood his fighting strategy since she had fought him so many times when they were younger, and she tried to make herself think that this was no different. It was just another one of their training spars.

But it _was_ different.

He was no longer the Itachi Uchiha who had been her comrade, even her friend.

He was now a coldhearted, ruthless killer who had murdered his entire clan.

_A stranger_, she thought to herself when his demonic red eyes finally focused on her.

Both Pein and Kisame watched from quite a distance away as Shiori tilted her head from one side to the other, noisily popping her neck. Her lips were curled into a slight snarl, and Pein had to give her some credit- she was fearless _and_ stubborn. Those two qualities were bound to get her killed, but he didn't care. She was merely a chess piece in his wicked game.

"Begin," Pein finally ordered, and Shiori immediately dropped her eyes from Itachi's in order to focus on his body from the neck down. She slid into a slight crouch with her body tilted to the left, ready to either dodge or attack at a moment's notice. When he didn't move, her lips curled into a cruel smirk,

"What's taking you so long to attack, nuhafu? Is it because you want me to make the first move, or maybe you've already began to lose that precious sight of yours?"

His eyes narrowed, making Shiori chuckle as she gestured him forward with her index finger, "Come on, I don't have all-"

He was suddenly in front of her, his fist swinging for her gut. She reached out and caught his fist as her other hand found the material of his cloak. She pivoted and threw the Uchiha, sending him flying through the air. Any other shinobi would have landed face first in the earth, but he managed to twist his body in mid-air and land on the tips of his toes with one hand digging into the ground so that he wouldn't lose his footing, creating furrows in the meadow.

"Uh…" Kisame slowly blinked as he watched them fight, incredibly matching each other blow-for-blow. "What the hell just happened?"

Pein smirked, "She's the exact mirror of Itachi. They were squad members until Shiori became certified as a Special Jounin and Itachi joined Anbu Black Ops."

Kisame cocked an eyebrow, "That little scallywag was a Special Jounin? She barely looks as though she could be a Genin."

"Looks can be deceiving," Pein said as he watched Shiori and Itachi fight. "She was bred for stealth, and she also has extraordinary medicinal capabilities. Her fighting style focuses mainly on taijutsu."

The shark-nin snorted, returning his attention to the fight.

The Uchiha disappeared in a flash, his attack coming from behind. Shiori whirled, catching his ankle before his sandal made contact with her bandaged ribs. He tossed a punch at her, but she released his ankle and ducked beneath his arm. She turned again, her hands catching both his fists. He pushed against her hold, but she didn't budge an inch as she also tried to push him.

They were deadlocked.

"You don't remember me at all, do you?" she snarled as she tried to push him away from her. He applied more force, causing her to skid backward, but she didn't release her grip on his fists. Instead, she stepped forward, causing him to skid backward until they were right back where they started.

"Whether I do or not is irrelevant during battle," he replied.

She released his fist and ducked low, sending an uppercut toward his chin. He tilted his head at the last moment, and then he caught her forearm in a deadly grip. He twisted the limb, but she swept her leg underneath his to trip him. He let go of her arm and leaped back, but Shiori followed, curling her fingers into a fist and tossing it toward him, her hatred for Itachi propelling her forward.

He dodged her blow at the last minute, causing her fist to collide with the ground. The earth began to quake underneath their feet as an enormous fissure split the ground, spreading outward and forming a web-like crater. Shiori leaped up onto one of the boulders which had rose from the earth, but then she jumped away just as a flock of shuriken embedded themselves into the stone.

He was suddenly above her, his leg slamming into her shoulder and causing her to dive toward the earth. She landed on the ground in a handstand, twisting her body in a roundhouse kick which collided with Itachi's pelvis. He was knocked sideways, but he grabbed her leg which was still buried within his side and dug his fingers into her calf, subduing her movement. Shiori finally noticed the slight quirk to his lips, and her eyes grew wide when she heard movement behind her. She whirled her head to see that the real Itachi was standing five meters behind her, forming hand seals while his shadow clone held her in place.

_Shit, _she gritted her teeth. She'd fallen right into his trap.

Snake, tiger, monkey, boar, horse; tiger- Itachi's nimble fingers formed the seals so quickly that Shiori could barely trace his movements. She tried to jerk her leg from the clone's grasp, but she was too late. Itachi inhaled deeply, and Shiori caught a small glimpse of the spark at the back of his throat before he blew all the air from his chest, launching an enormous fireball directly toward her.

She threw her arms in front of her face, sinking her teeth into the skin of her left forearm just as the roaring flames engulfed her. The rampant fire caused Itachi's clone to explode, the strong gust making his cloak billow out behind him as he raised his sleeve to prevent the scorching embers from burning his skin.

Pein remained motionless as they watched from afar, but a sadistic smirk spread across Kisame's face as the scent of scorched earth spread throughout the air, "What a waste. It's already over."

The fire raged on even after Itachi lowered his arm back to his side. The blistering hot flames danced in his sharingan eyes as he dispassionately gazed at the depression his jutsu had created in the earth. A mangled black mass lay smoldering in the center of the blaze, and, with eyes closed, he turned from the sight in order to begin walking back toward the cliff face.

But he froze in mid-stride, eyes snapping open to see his breath come out in an icy vapor. Goose bumps rose on his flesh as the temperature drastically plummeted until it was below freezing, and Itachi watched as the dew-laden grass beneath his feet began to turn silver with frost. _Plink-plink! Plink!_ They all heard a sound similar to millions of shards of glass falling onto a hard surface, and Itachi, Kisame, and even Pain turned to see that the waterfall was gradually freezing into a pillar of ice.

"Ice?" Kisame stared out onto the meadow in awe, seeing how it had transformed from a beautiful summer evening to a frozen wasteland in mere seconds. Even the crater that had contained the raging flames of Itachi's Fireball Jutsu had extinguished, leaving the earth where they had danced completely barren. Even the body of the girl had been reduced to…

Kisame's eyes suddenly grew wide, "Itachi-san!"

The Uchiha whirled around just as Shiori's fist connected with his jaw. She could feel the crunch of bone beneath her knuckles as the powerful blow picked him up and off his feet. Shiori stood and watched as he angled his body in mid-air, landing gracefully on the balls of his feet. She could feel those demonic red eyes glaring into her own, but she kept her eyes lowered, focusing on the trail of blood flowing down his chin.

She smirked when she saw the tips of his fingertips twitching, and that was all she needed to know that she had definitely pissed him off. Shiori knew from the very beginning that he seriously underestimated her, and, when he had thought that he killed her with his jutsu, she seized that window of opportunity to take him off guard and attack.

"You're predicting my attacks," he stated, and she interpreted that as him finally showing some curiosity in her identity. She would have laughed if not for the pain spreading through her shoulder from his earlier attack.

"Whether I am or not is irrelevant during battle," she mocked his earlier words.

She could feel his eyes roving over her, desperately trying to remember who she was and how she was able to fight him so well. She knew him well enough to know that he was comparing her to everyone he had ever met throughout his life, but it was obvious that he wasn't able to figure it out.

Shiori's fingernails dug into the palms of her hand, drawing blood.

"I was sent to prison because of you," she seethed. "After a week without your capture, rumors of an shinobi revolt began to spread throughout the village like wildfire. They didn't want to believe that their _precious_ prodigy had massacred his entire clan. Once Lord Third Hokage learned of the rumors, he knew that something had to be done in order to bring _some _justice out of the whole ordeal. During a meeting with the village elders, they made a decision."

"_Setunai, Shiori," the Sandaime Hokage stared at the black document clutched in his wrinkled grasp, barely managing to conceal the sorrow and doubt flickering within his eyes, "you are hereby sentenced to life in the Konohagakure Maximum Security Prison."_

"_No!" she screamed. "You- You can't do this! I didn't know this would happen!"_

"_There's nothing we can do, Shiori," the Sandaime ignored her plight. "The council had proposed immediate execution in the beginning. You're lucky I could pull some strings in order to give you the life sentence."_

_She finally raised her watery gaze from the floor in order to glare at him, "So you're just going to lock me up like some filthy dog until I eventually wither away, huh?"_

"_You will be placed under twenty-four hour surveillance and suicide watch," he informed. She grew tense and he increased the pressure of his hold on her wrists, "Any violation of the rights, which Kakashi will soon read to you, will result in an immediate public execution without the possibility of trial. Do you have any questions before you are escorted to prison?"_

"Because of _you_," she shouted, "they imprisoned _ME_- Setunai, Shiori!"

As her temper flared, she forgot exactly who she was fighting.

Her eyes rose to glare into his, and he struck before she even realized her dreadful mistake.

She was drawn into his world of bloody skies and black crucifixes. He mercilessly tugged the strings of her sanity, twisting and tangling them until she wanted to scream and beg for mercy- but she did not. He showed her how he massacred each of his clansmen, even how he drowned Shisui to gain the Mangekyou sharingan. Forbidden emotions and memories that she had buried many years ago resurface- they made her raw and brought tears to her eyes.

And then, as quickly as it began, it ended.

She staggered slightly as everything gradually came back into focus- the craters in the meadow, the blue sky, the sound of the waterfall, the smell of the wildflowers. Her jutsu had worn off. She wasn't able to form any coherent thoughts as she shook. Her entire body felt numb, as though she'd been placed in a tub of ice for hours.

Her blank eyes rose to stare into a pair of red orbs, and she saw a single drop of blood in the corner of his right eye.

She stepped toward him with her hand outstretched, but then her entire world lurched. As soon as one foot touched the ground, she lost all sensation in the limb. It was like suddenly trying to walk after someone's legs had been crossed for too long. Her foot was numb except for the painful, needle-piercing sensation, and her ankle twisted as she crumbled to the ground.

Her defeat didn't even register in her mind. Just like her body, her mind was numb. She just laid on her back, gazing mindlessly up at the clouds. The wind danced over the meadow, causing her dark brown bangs to tickle her cheeks. She felt oddly relaxed as she watched the clouds slowly drift across that blue canvas many thousands of miles above her. She tried to make out shapes, and she faintly remembered doing such a thing when she was younger.

She didn't know how long she lay on the upturned earth, but she didn't care. The sky was now painted with hues of gold, pink, and purple since the sun had already started to set. The wind was becoming stronger, and the warmth of it was now replaced by the impending chill of night. The ground felt clammy underneath her, acting as a giant cold compress for her aching body.

"Are you suicidal, kid?"

Shiori tilted her head to the side and saw that Kisame was staring down at her. There was an irritated expression on his face as his arms were folded across his chest.

"Only a fool would think they could go against Itachi and win. You're lucky that he didn't kill you."

"I wasn't about winning." Her voice was barely more than a whisper, and it was obvious that her words confused Kisame. "That punch is enough to satisfy me for right now."

The shark-nin huffed a sigh and turned his head to look up at the darkening sky, "Forget I even brought it up."

"Fine."

He stooped down by her side, holding out a hand toward her. She tensed and glared at his hand in confusion, causing Kisame to chuckle, "You're about as feral as a wolf."

"Five years of solitude will do that to you."

She took his hand, and he helped her to her feet.

For those who read the original Those Accused, do you like the newer version better, or do you prefer the older version?


	4. Chapter 4

"Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game."

~Voltaire~

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Shiori stared blankly at Kisame from across the table. The shark-nin was obviously under duress as he squinted at his hand of cards, reaching toward one with his left hand only to draw it back, chew at his fingernails, then reach for another only to withdraw his hand again.

Shiori rolled her eyes, "Any day now, Kisame-san."

He shot her a glare, "The stakes are too high to take even a novice like _you_ too lightly."

She laughed at him, knowing that more than half of the "spoils" scattered across the tabletop belonged to Kisame: a velvet pouch containing about fifty ryo, his entire ration of midnight snacks, and three bottles of sake. The only thing Shiori had put up for grabs was a lunchbox of dumplings, onigiri, and skewered barbecue chicken. The shark-nin had had three weeks to sample her cooking, though, and he seemed to believe that the food was a fair wager.

Kisame's eyes bore directly into hers, but Shiori had the perfect poker face. She was a clean slate all the way from her un-furrowed brow to the relaxed way in which she had her arms crossed over her chest, her cards spread out like a fan in her right hand.

He glanced toward his cards once more, seeing that he had a full house, the fourth best hand possible. Resolved, Kisame slowly began to lower his cards down to the tabletop, keeping his eyes of Shiori the entire time.

Then he stopped.

There was a slight quirk to her lips as she watched him, causing Kisame to doubt whether or not to play his hand. As he drew his cards back to him once more, her devilish grin touched her eyes, making them sparkle in the dimly lit room.

"Fuck it," Kisame said, slamming his cards down onto the table.

Shiori saw the cards, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise as she released a low, appraising whistle.

The door suddenly opened, flooding the small storage closet with light. Yumiko, the inappropriately dressed ward Shiori had met almost a month ago, stood in the doorway. She must have been running around the hideout all morning since she was breathing heavily and her blonde curls had almost completely fallen out, and she was shooting daggers at Shiori when she said,

"So _this_ is where you've been hiding. I expected this out of you, Setunai-san. But _you, too_, Kisame-san?"

Her eyes suddenly fell upon the cluttered table and the cards Kisame had thrown down, and she shrieked, "_Kisame-san_! This is aiding and abetting! Everyone's been searching for her all morning, and yet _both_ of you have been _gambling _in the _storage closet_!"

Shiori rolled her eyes, rearranging her cards with the other hand, "Don't get your panties in a wad. Let me guess? You're here because Sir Leader has finally summoned me to his office?"

"He _summoned_ you over five hours ago," the ward snapped, placing her hands on her hips in frustration.

Shiori sighed, "Well, Kisame, it appears as though we're going to have to call it a day."

The shark-nin chuckled, showing his pointed teeth, "Saved by the bell, eh?"

Shiori smirked as she rose to her feet, "So it would appear. However…"

She slapped her hand of cards down upon the table, and Kisame gasped when he saw that she had a royal flush.

"What?" he barked.

Shiori threw her head back and laughed, and then she snatched the bag of money from up off the table before he could take it back. Tossing it up into the air and catching it in the palm of her hand, she smirked,

"This is all I want, Kisame-san. You can keep the sake and use it to help yourself drown in self-pity."

When she went to put the pouch in her pocket, cards fell out of her sleeve and fluttered onto the floor.

Everyone froze, staring at all the face cards that blankly stared back.

"Well," Shiori spoke slowly, "That was a minor miscalculation."

"_You!_" Kisame roared, leaping up from his seat and lunging for Shiori.

She ducked past him and out the door, slamming it in his face and using a large rock laying on the stone corridor's floor to scotch the door from the outside, trapping both Kisame and Yumiko inside the storage closet.

She could hear Kisame's fists pounding against the metal door, but the thick steel muffled all the curses she knew he was using at that very moment.

"You win some, lose some, Kisame-san," she hollered through the door, and then she finally pocketed the velvet bag and began to walk through the passageway.

She had traveled a lot through the stone halls during her three weeks at the hideout. She was almost always accompanied by Kisame since he was her "unwilling temporary custodian," as he had put it- a more polite way of saying "babysitter." Shiori had been sure to memorize the different paths, dead ends, and many rooms within the Akatsuki complex as Kisame led her from this point to that, showing her everything from the surprisingly well-furnished kitchen to his own room, which they had been forced to share during the first week of her arrival until Pain arranged a room for her.

She stopped outside Pain's office door, and he promptly called,

"Enter."

Turning the brass knob, she pushed the door into the room and saw that Pein was standing behind his wooden desk, its surface completely hidden by an untidy array of books and scrolls.

She walked into the room and closed the door behind her.

Without looking up, he asked, "Have you ever heard of the Golden Bell, Shiori?"

She cocked an eyebrow, "The Golden Bell of Stone Country?"

He looked up at her, a smirk playing on his lips, "Yes, and it's going to be your first mission as an affiliate of Akatsuki. You're going to steal the Golden Bell."

Shiori's jaw dropped, "St- Steal the bell? A _three ton_ bell?"

"It's made entirely of gold," Pain informed. "Think about how much revenue it would generate for Akatsuki once it was stolen and sold to the Underground."

Shiori snorted, impassively folding her arms across her chest.

The Underground was the complete opposite of the well-established and honorable shinobi military hierarchy possessed by the Five Great Shinobi Nations. It was a half-assed society composed of everything illegal- petty criminals, corrupt businessmen, and rouge-nin like Shiori, except they had nothing better to do during their spare time. She only had to deal with the Underground a handful of times during the past, and she had always felt it to be a painstaking experience that was more trouble than it was worth.

"Let us suppose," Shiori decided to humor him, "that I _can _pull this off. What's in it for me?"

"Even though the bell is worth well over a million ryo, I'd feel comfortable making only half that sum. You get to call the shots, Shiori. You can put whatever price on it you desire, and, as long as I get my half a million ryo, you can have the difference."

She silently stood as she contemplated this. If what he was saying was true, if she played her cards right, she could walk away with almost half a million ryo, also. In one mission, she would make over twenty times what she made working an entire year in Konoha.

A smile spread across her face, "When do I head out?"

"As soon as Itachi returns."

Her smile vanished, "_Itachi_? What does _he_ have to do with my mission?"

He had begun to close the books scattered across his desk, neatly piling them atop each other, "He and Kisame will be accompanying you to Stone Country."

"No," she said flatly.

"They have a mission of their own, so they'll be out of your way."

She snorted, "Bullshit. I wouldn't mind Kisame-san, but I'll be damned before I'm partnered with _him_."

"_I_ am the _leader_ of this organization," Pain slowly walked around his desk, approaching Shiori one dangerous step at a time. "My subordinates know that, if they do not abide by my rules, they _will_ die."

He was in front of her now, his face mere inches from hers. He was a lethal basilisk, those Rinnegan eyes filled with so much fury that he could probably turn her to stone as he seethed, "I do _not_ tolerate mistakes, I do _not_ tolerate insolence, and I do _not_ tolerate rebellion. Now leave, or I will _kill. you. myself._"

Deadlocked, they stood there glaring at each other- Shiori defying him out of pure stubbornness; Pein debating whether or not he had made a wise choice in bringing her to Akatsuki.

Finally, Shiori's lip curled into an almost animal-like snarl, and she turned on her heel and stormed toward the door.

Pein leaned backward against the front of his desk, pinching the bridge of his nose and releasing a heavy sigh.

Stone Country was nothing but miles upon miles of craggy desert and wasteland.

At least, that's what the general public was led to believe.

Amidst an endless meadow of wildflowers, Shiori fell onto her back and closed her eyes. The golden rays of the sun warmed her face, the indescribable warmth sinking deep into her flesh and warming her all the way to her bones. A gentle breeze carried the sweet scent of millions of late-summer irises and wild roses, and she inhaled as deeply as possible in order to commit the smell to memory. The gentle trickling of a river some ways off graced her ears, along with the distant sound of carts being pulled along the dirt path that led to the capital of Stone Country.

It was peaceful.

Except for the fact that Shisui wasn't there to enjoy the beauty of the meadow with her. That he was dead, his body entirely annihilated by the Konohagakure Anbu in order to prevent outsiders from harnessing the secrets of his sharingan, nothing remaining of him except an impersonal marble slab that was supposed to commemorate a life that was cut short too soon. A life that was needlessly stolen. A bright soul that had reached out to all of those who were lost in the darkness, taking hold of them and guiding them back into the light. A light that was now extinguished.

She sat up, clasping her hands over her eyes and gritting her teeth.

She sat like that for a long time, fighting back painful memories that made her chest feel so hollow, yet ache so badly, at the same time. There were no tears. They had dried out many years ago, the void replaced by overwhelming sadness and sorrow.

Slowly, she dragged her hands down her face and released a sigh as the wind brushed strands of her hair across her cheeks. She gazed out across the colorful meadow that seemed to stretch on into oblivion, but she knew that the meadow could only go so far before transforming into the colorless, empty wasteland that marked her destination.

Shiori slowly rose to her feet, and she suddenly sensed two chakra signatures breaching her five-mile range. She grimaced as she realized that her _teammates_ had finally tracked her down, but she had no intention of letting them catch up to her now.

The post town was so obsolete that it didn't even have a name. It was known as "home" to the handful of people who permanently resided within one of the thirty shack-like wooden buildings corralled together in the center of the barren wasteland. The "Underground" is what it is called by those who are up to no good- the crooked businessmen who were signing contracts with rogue-nin in order to have their business rivals assassinated, the low-life bounty hunters who pissed off too many people and were forced to go into hiding amongst the shinobi they once hunted, and the disgusting prostitutes who had rot all their teeth out by using meth.

Shiori blended in well among them, her black pants, sleeveless gray shirt, and weapon holsters unremarkable since so many others were similarly dressed. She only managed to draw the attention of a few lecherous men as she walked past a tavern, her feet swiftly navigating the filthy trodden earth that stretched between the wooden shacks. She glanced up at the sky and realized that the sun had already begun to set.

The Golden Bell would have to wait.

She had much more important matters to attend to, first.

Like the loud, dying sound her empty stomach was making.

She was familiar with the town, so it only took a short walk to locate one of only two ramshackle restaurants on its outskirts. She pushed aside the heavily stained noren that marked its entrance, and the cramped building instantly fell silent.

She boldly stepped into the smoke-filled restaurant, noticing how those who were seated at the counter had turned their heads to stare. She paid them no mind as she made her way to a wooden table in the very back, ignoring the menacing sneers of the others who occupied the rickety tables scattered throughout the room. It was obvious that most of them were ex-bounty hunters, because they wore no hitai-ate* but carried a wide variety of weapons from giant axes to long lengths of steel chain.

As soon as she sat down, she was approached by an older woman with untidy cropped hair, and she had such a bored look on her face that it was almost insulting.

"What can I get you today,_ sweetheart_?" the waitress asked, taking out a small notepad and repeatedly clicking the top button of her cheap ink pen.

"Just get me whatever the special is today, and your biggest bowl of tempura-topped udon and some sashimi. Get me iced tea to drink. Black tea, though, please."

Sarcastic, she asked, "Will that be all?"

"Double up my order."

The waitress's mouth dropped, but she quickly recovered and put her hands on her hips, snapping, "And exactly _how_ do you plan to pay for all this?"

Shiori calmly reached into the pouch at her waist, pulling out the velvet pouch of money that she had won from Kisame earlier that day. She opened the small bag and pulled out a shiny ryo, causing the waitress's eyes to almost bulge out of their sockets.

Shiori held out the money toward her. The woman made a hasty grab for it, but Shiori pulled it away, earning a vicious glare from the waitress.

"This ryo is yours if you can give me some information in return."

The woman's eyes narrowed, "Information? On what?"

Shiori nonchalantly rubbed the money between her fingers, her cunning eyes never leaving the other woman's, "I'm looking for a man who lived here about five years ago. His name is Nobuo. Fuyuta Nobuo."

A spark of recognition flashed across the waitress's face, but then she said, "No, never heard of 'em. I've only been working here for a year, so he must have skipped town before I came here."

Shiori made a face as if to say, "Ah," and when the woman impatiently held out her hand for the ryo, Shiori placed it in the palm of her sweaty hand. Shiori scrutinized her every movement, from how stiff her back was as she walked away from the table, how clumsily she passed the order through the small rectangular window that led to the kitchen, and how, instead of attending to the two ex-hunters who just entered the restaurant, she lingered at the small window to hastily exchange some words with the chef, her eyes anxiously flickering to Shiori and then flitting away when she saw that Shiori was staring.

The waitress was making it painfully obvious that she was lying, but Shiori didn't care.

There was always more ways than one to flush a rabbit out of its hole.

Shiori arrogantly kicked her feet up on top the table, folding her legs and leaning the chair back onto its hind legs. As she waited for her food, she opened the velvet pouch and began to count through the money, meticulously placing each gold coin on top the table in a perfect stack. She could hear murmurs of dissent rapidly spreading throughout the restaurant, but she didn't mind.

That's what she wanted.

"You're not from 'round here, are you?"

Shiori glanced over her shoulder to see that three men now stood behind her, one just as rugged-looking as the next with their tattered clothes and scraggly beards.

She smiled, "No, actually. I'm just passing through."

The one wearing a patch over his left eye chuckled, putting his right hand on his hip in order to draw attention to the sword he wore, hoping to intimidate her, "Then you don't know about the toll for passing through town. Right, Miss?"

Shiori feigned ignorance, knowing full well that no such fee existed "Toll? How much is it?"

He gestured toward the stack of coins she'd placed on the tabletop, "Well, it looks like you have about thirty ryo there. That should be enough, shouldn't it, boys?"

All three of them laughed.

"I don't think so."

They silenced, but there was still a conceited smirk on the man's face as he leaned in toward Shiori. His rancid breath was lethal as he leaned so close that his sewer brown eye was only an inch away from hers, "Listen here, darlin'. This world isn't safe for pretty little girls like you, especially when you're around people like _us_." His dry, cracked hand rose to stroke the pale skin of her cheek, "Now, if you don't give us that money, we might be tempted to take something more from you."

Her eyes narrowed, "Is that so?"

Shiori leaped for his jugular.

*Hitai-ate are the forehead protectors


End file.
